“In naming this year’s Vertex Awards judging panel, we have expanded the international voice,” said Christopher Durham, founder of My Private Brand and Vice President of Private Brand, Theory House. “We have added judges from China, Canada and Japan to expand the global perspective of the judging panel.”

Durham, and competition co-sponsor, Phillip Russo, Publisher, Global Retail Brands, searched out design luminaries from eight countries and tasked them with holding entrants to a higher standard for private brand design. “Every year we strive to bring together the creative dream team of packaging design. Several of last year’s winners agreed to come back this year as judges.”

Judges for this years competition include:

		Rick Barrack, Chief Creative Officer & Managing Partner, CBX New York, United States Barrack has twenty years experience in consumer and retail branding, and is the creative vision behind U by Kotex and the rebranding of Duane Reade’s private label portfolio.
		Maggie Bean, Creative Lead, Theory House North Carolina, United States The former principal of Karro Bean Design House, she has 20 years of creative development and strategy experience. She has worked on campaigns for The Fresh Market, Food Lion, and BB&T, and strives to bring fresh creativity to everything she works on.
		Paula Bunny, Creative Director, Brother Design Aukland, New Zealand Prior to returning to New Zealand to manage the Foodstuffs New Zealand’s Pams brand, Bunny crafted private brand design for global companies including Johnson & Johnson, Gillette, and Kraft Foods. Bunny was awarded 2013 Vertex Best of Show for Pams Flour, and Vertex Gold Awards for Pams Premium Ice Cream, Pams Milk and Butter and Pams Baby.
		Don Childs, SVP, Executive Creative Director, Brandimage Cincinnati, Ohio United States With nearly 25 years of experience, Childs has created award-winning, category-changing design, earning nearly 200 awards for his design, including two gold CLIOs. He believes design doesn’t just create value, but shapes culture and impacts lives.
		Maria Dubuc, Director, MBD; Vice President, Big Red Rooster Massachusetts, United States A 25 year pioneer in creative management, Dubuc’s key talent is to combine a career’s worth of branding experience into something personal and unique for each and every client. Smart & Final, The Home Depot, WinCo Foods and PriceSmart are among the retailer programs she currently runs.
		Masanori Eto, Creative Director, AdBrain, Inc. Tokyo, Japan A board member of the Japan Package Design Association, Eto has over 25 years of package design and advertising experience. His designs have been recognized nationally in Japan and globally. He is also a judge for internationally recognized package design competitions, The Dieline Awards and The Pentawards.
		Ruth Galloway, Creative Director, Marque Brand Consultants Sydney, Australia Ruth Galloway is an award-winning designer with over 17 years experience in brand and brand packaging design. Having helped shaped and define some of the worlds leading and most iconic companies, in 2007 she co-founded We are Him+Her, a London based creative agency focused on building brands and positioning them for success through strong strategic thinking and beautiful packaging solutions, building an impressive global and local client list including the likes of Unilever and Tesco. After the 2013 acquisition of the company, she relocated to Sydney and joined Marque as Creative Director in 2014 where her extensive experience, intuitive sympathy for the retail shopper, and enthusiasm for the changing retail landscape help guide Marque and Woolworths on a continued path to success.
		Jean-Pierre Lacroix, President, Shikatani Lacroix Toronto, Canada Lacroix is a visionary design thinker, author and speaker, and serves as a board member with the Packaging Association of Canada. Over the past 20 years, he has built a reputation as an innovator, passionate about packaging design and branding.
		Loe Limpens, Managing Partner, Yellow Dress Retail Amsterdam, Netherlands Limpens studied Fashion design at the Academy of Applied Arts in Maastricht, Netherlands, and Design Management in Rotterdam, Netherlands. For twenty years he has been working for Private Label manufacturers, design agencies and leading retailers. He has experience in the creative and strategic side of Private Label packaging and is a leading expert in retail design. He is co-author of “Private Label Uncovered”, a 2011 released overview of major Retail Brands developments.
		Angelo Morano, Designer/Art Director, Morano Design Toronto, Canada Morano is an award-winning registered graphic designer and principal of Morano Design. With over 15 years of experience, he brings passion and modern design sensibility to his product packaging and brand identity projects. He has managed two of Canada’s most recognized private brands: JOE FRESH and President’s Choice.
		Glen Pfeifer, Executive Creative Director, Galileo Global Branding Group, Connecticut, United Sates Pfeifer is responsible for brand and creative development for packaging and shopper marketing clients. He brings a unique perspective to his work, having worked on marketing creative for a diverse global client list, including Citigroup, Sony, Bacardi and ESPN.
		Gustavio Piqueira, Principal, Casa Rex São Paulo, Brazil Piqueira is the most recognized graphic designer in Brazil, receiving over 200 international design awards and serving as consultant to major global companies as a leading trendsetter. He has designed typefaces, illustrated children’s books and written 13 books on various topics. Casa Rex won a Vertex Gold awards in 2013 for ANTO’ and Tea Time Collection.
		Fred Richards, CCO & Partner, Kaleidescope Chicago, United States Richards has over 20 years of creative experience in branding and design, with MLR Chicago, FutureBrand, Interbrand and The Brand Union. He has led creative development initiatives for clients including P&G, Bayer, Wrigley and Unilever.
		Kevin Shaw, Founder, Stranger & Stranger San Francisco, United States In 1994, Shaw created what would become one of the world’s leading drinks packaging companies. He believes products need to stand out rather than fit in, and that packaging is key to communicating brand stories.
		ZHOU Wenjun, Founder, Creative Director & Architect, 524 Studio Beijing, China Wenjun is a Cube-awarded member of the Art Directors Club, and focuses on product design, art and photography. His work has earned numerous awards including, One Show Design Pencil, Red Dot, Cannes Lions and HKDA Global Design. His work has been published and exhibited globally.
		Adrian Whitefoord, Co-founder, Pemberton & Whitefoord (P&W), London, England Whitefoord believes the best design requires a combination of emotion and logic. Pemberton and Whitefoord clients include Tesco, Nestlé, Starbucks and Seicomart.

Open to retail owned brands worldwide in any trade channel, the Vertex Awards encourage retailers, agencies, consultants, graphic design firms, manufacturers and brokers to submit their Private Brand entries.

For a design to qualify, it must have been introduced in-store between November 2013 and November 2014. Points will be awarded for design, information architecture, originality, structure, and x-factor. While judges can submit their own work, they cannot judge a category in which their work appears.

Winning work will be honored in March on the competition website, in Global Retail Brands’ March print issue, on My Private Brand’s website, www.myprivatebrand.com, and on the Global Retail Brands‘ website, www.globalretailmag.com. In addition, all winning entries will appear in a book to be available on Amazon.

Entries are $129 and will be accepted October 15 through January 15, 2015.

Complete information and entry forms can be found at www.vertexawards.org.